The Biggest Mistake Most Bands Are Making With Facebook

Are you a musician? Is your group having issues? Ask Fan Landers! Critic Jessica Hopper has played in and managed bands, toured internationally, booked shows, produced records, worked as a publicist, and is the author of The Girls' Guide to Rocking, a how-to for teen ladies. She is here to help you stop doing it wrong. Send your problems to her -- confidentiality is assured, unless you want to use your drama as a ticket to Internet microfame.

Greetings Fan,
Our band recently changed our name after many years. We had our old name at the dawn of the Internet-band-craze-age, when MySpace was king. Back in those days, "real" bands didn't have much use for a social media presence. I find it disheartening that bands / side projects of bands I loved and still love -- whose heydays were long before the Internet (Six Finger Satellite, Fugazi solo projects Deathfix and Joe Lally, the Reigning Sound etc.) are on Facebook and such. Having to pimp themselves out in this manner like all the other dregs that play to the barkeep's cousin at SXSW. Can a band exist these days -- or more importantly can people hear your songs -- without social media? Are there examples of new up-and-comers who keep off the Internet, leaving a bit of mystique out there for you to find on your lonesome? Could there be a new trend on the horizon of anti-Internet? Am I an old person?
P.S. Our web handle, sans Zuckerberg: hobbyistband.comThanks for your time,
Marc

Marc,
I'm going to tackle the heart of what I think you are getting at, rather than all your questions, as most of them are just rhetorical grousing dressed as query. No shots at rhetorical grousing, of course -- that's how I make my living.

Being an olde tymer, you remember musicianhood before Facebook, and so you remember the the old ways. You've seen people cycle through platforms as they get outmoded and unfashionable. Younger people and younger bands were effectively born into Mark Zuckerberg's monolith, and so the idea of not having a Facebook page for a band seems absurd. Current bands seemingly have no skepticism about handing the reins over, which seems crazy to you, and in turn you feel alienated and kind of mad about it. You are also bummed that a Providence disco noise band who made its best album in 1996 is on Facebook. Okay, let's talk this out.

My friend Jonah Matranga has, wisely, built his long and unconventional career by maintaining a connection to his fanbase -- in essence, that is his whole thing. On the splash page of his website, he asks for an email address before you enter. He has a little spiel explaining why -- he wants to maintain a direct connection to his fans and not be filtered through some site's platform. He doesn't want to lose that connection when Facebook goes the way of Friendster. Email lists aren't as fun as social media, but they are direct and the power is in your hands. Jonah knows who his fans are, and can get ahold of them. This is a very smart move, and one few bands make.

The thing many bands don't even consider is this: If your entire connection and method of connecting to your fans is through a platform that is not your own (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Soundcloud, Instagram, Pintrest, Tumblr) -- what happens if all the sudden that site shuts down or radically changes its terms of service? Starts charging for service? If your fan quits using it regularly? You might never reconnect with them again. How can you track them down? How can you tell them about these summer tour dates? You're a teeny regional band -- Brooklyn Vegan isn't going to post your dates and get the word out for you. What if your fan doesn't even follow music news? Your connection to them is effectively severed because you were lazy and assumed that no one ever quits Facebook. And by you I mean everyone.